Sunday 24 July 2011

Happy Holidays!

No, it's not Christmas in July.  It's what we call 'vacation.'  We had a friend offer us their family home in Donegal so we accepted their hospitality for a week.  Donegal is a rugged, exciting, wild, beautiful northernmost county in the Republic.  What an amazing time we had!
Donegal Road - 'Shortcut' over the Mountain
Driving the Inishowen 100 - coastal drive 


Famine Village

Malin Head - northernmost point of Ireland

Approaching 'Errigal' - Donegal's Highest Mountain

Climbing Errigal

Trudging through the heavy bog of Errigal

Finally to the scree on Errigal - slow and difficult!

The views were amazing!

Finally, the summit!

Mt. Errigal, Donegal

Rosapenna Beach, Co. Donegal

Rosapenna Beach, Co. Donegal

Karting in Donegal

Great racing lads!

Buncrana Beach, Co. Donegal

Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim

Giant's Causeway



Barry's Amusement Park
Portrush, Northern Ireland


Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland



Carrick-a-rede, Northern Ireland


Summer Visitors. Yay!

Mom & Dad Peace
Glendalough
Well, this has been a busy summer so far.  Our highlight has been the visit from each of our sets of parents.  In the weeks that they were each here, we saw more of Ireland than we've seen the entire time we've lived here in Ireland!

One thing is for certain though - the more we see of Ireland, and the more we engage with the culture here, the more we love living here on this little island in the North Atlantic!

Mom & Dad Osborn
Cliffs of Moher
During our parents' visits, we toured many castles (too many if you ask my dad!), practiced driving on loads of tiny, curvy Irish roads (sometimes very scarey!), saw the beautiful Irish countryside (GREEN!), were overwhelmed by the Cliffs of Moher, and most importantly, got to spend loads of time catching up with our dear parents!  It was fun sharing our Irish way of live with them and they really seemed to enjoy seeing where we live, shop for groceries, see where the kids go to school, getting to meet our friends, and just get an idea how we get on in everyday life really.

We were so blessed to have our mums & dads here! God is so good to us.  Please pray for Jen's mum as she is battling a rare form of cancer again.